Chacon not sharp for Astros in 7-6 win over Dodgers split squad

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Shawn Chacon was looking to make a case for one of the bottom spots in Houston's rotation on Thursday.

Instead, the first-year Astros' right-hander had his worst outing of the spring, allowing five hits and five runs in three innings of Houston's 7-6 win over a Los Angeles Dodgers split squad.

Chacon, who played for Pittsburgh last season, also plunked two batters in the first inning and struggled with his location all day.

"I rate that a 'G' for garbage," said Chacon who was both a starter and reliever for the Pirates last season. "I didn't pitch well at all today. I wasn't sharp and then it caught up to me in the third. I didn't make pitches and was behind in the count, walked a couple of guys and then when I needed to make pitches I didn't."

Chacon, a free agent who signed with the Astros on Feb. 20, said he's physically where he wants to be and he simply needs to fine tune his game.

"It was just a matter of not having the stuff today," he said. "Coming out of my last couple of outings I felt like I was right where I wanted to be. Today, maybe I took a little step backward as far as location."

Astros manager Cecil Cooper wasn't impressed with Chacon's outing.

"I thought his mechanics were kind of bad," Cooper said. "I thought … he was throwing across his body a little bit."

Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda didn't fare any better on Thursday, allowing six hits and five earned runs in three innings. The 33-year-old rookie from Japan had allowed just three earned runs and six hits in his previous three starts combined.

He is expected to be in the Dodgers' rotation after signing a $35.3 million, three-year contract late last year.

Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, filling in for manager Joe Torre while he's in China with part of the Dodgers team that will play two games against the San Diego Padres this weekend, said despite the line, Kuroda actually pitched well.

"Kuroda threw the ball real good," the 80-year-old Lasorda said. "If we would have played good defense for him he would have come out of there looking really good. His control was good. But you cannot give the opposition outs, that's the thing that hurts you."

The Dodgers committed four errors as Lasorda dropped to 0-3 since stepping in as manager.

Los Angeles got a strong performance from prospect Blake DeWitt, who was plucked from minor league camp recently to join a team short on third basemen with Andy LaRoche and Nomar Garciaparra injured and much of the team in China.

DeWitt went 3-for-4 with a triple, a home run and three RBIs on Thursday.

"I've seen enough of DeWitt," Lasorda said with a laugh. "I've seen him since the day he came here. He's going to be an outstanding player one day. I know all about him. I'm not just seeing him for the first time now. I worked with him in the minor leagues."

The Astros scored five runs in the second inning and the Dodgers got five in the third. Houston added a run in both the third and the fourth and DeWitt's homer came in the eighth.

Notes:@ New Astros SS Miguel Tejada, who has struggled this spring, had his first two hit game of year on Thursday. He was 2-for-3 with two doubles.